Brothers
by TwilightLabyrinth
Summary: After all their battles the Elric brothers finally got the philosopher's stone and regained their bodies but they received a new curse as well: immortality. Now Ed roams the world seeking solitude and trying to keep Al away. Al stands by the military aiding and advising, all the while searching for his elder brother. Set to Brothers as sung by Vic Mignogna.


**Sum: After finally discovering the philosopher's stone both Ed and Al became immortal. Ed eventually leaves the military (he resigned) and begins to wonder. As he keeps on living he begins to see his father's pain and constantly reflects on the fact that he was at fault for what happened to Al. He becomes reclusive and distances himself from humanity as a whole. On the other hand Al draws closer to humanity and becomes a secret advisor to the Amestrian Army. He, too, finds blame in himself and often goes after Ed. **

**Short note: Ed represents darkness and Al light, not good and evil. Based on the song Brother (Bratja) sung by Vic Mignogna.**

Ed's breath came out in a white puff. The earth beneath his feet was no longer black and over the centuries the blackened debris was gone but he could still see it, his old home. In the cold he felt the lick of fire on his fleshy arms. He turned and walked down the now hidden path revealing a single red rose on the snow where the front stoop had been. Stopping halfway toward the yellow farm house with the fading paint he looked up at the balcony. His heart throbbed as he remembered Winry standing there and flashing the light for them; calling them home. A figure moved near the railing.

_How can I repay you, brother mine?_

_How can I expect you to forgive?_

_Clinging to the past_

_I shed our blood, and shattered your chance to live_

_Though I knew the laws, I paid no heed_

_How can I return your wasted breath?_

_What I did not know has cost you dear,_

_For there is no cure for death_

A light flashed over his eyes but he couldn't come. Instead he turned away heading to the only other place he could be with that pain still. When he saw the worn stone he fell to his knees and tried to let the tears fall but they were dry. From his pocket he pulled a silver pocket watch and with the bitter bite of nostalgia opened the cover. Long ago when he had resigned Mustang had been kind enough to let him keep the trinket as soon as he saw the words carved behind the cover. _Don't forget .10._ He no longer needed the reminder. For some reason though he hadn't been able to part with it until now. He placed it a top the grave stone and walked away, his fingers grazed the stone one last time.

_Beautiful Mother, _

_Soft and sweet, once you were gone_

_We were not complete_

Comparing the time on his new digital watch to his train ticket he left the cemetery. His pace was slow but he had time. It was the one thing he had an abundance of and if he missed this train he really didn't have anywhere to be and could take the next one. He wished he couldn't though. Apart of him longed for the time when every second was valuable, when he in his foolish youth had wasted so much time, and every day was a gift and a risk all in one. He longed for the short moments of peace with those he loved. How foolish, how stupid he had been. He claimed to not live in the past but that was all he'd done. He'd chased down his mother's ghost, his brothers body, his limbs, and sacrificed being with the one he loved.

"EDWARD!" Someone called through the wind.

For a moment he stopped then kept going. It was all his fault, this Hell was his doing. He couldn't face Al now. After all it had been his idea to do what they had done and try to bring their mother back. If he hadn't gone looking for a way to bring their mother back and been so damn cocky about it they would never have tried and consequently failed.

_Back through the years  
We reached for you  
Alas t'was not meant to be_

He stepped on the train just before it pulled away from the station. First class in the modern age afforded him certain privileges and amenities. The complimentary champagne wasn't bad but it didn't do anything to lessen his pain. He tried to sleep but found that the track was too smooth to lull him to sleep so he read a newspaper, an old habit that hadn't died over the ears even though the industry had. Halfway through the ride a stewardess came in with dinner.

"Mr. Elric? Might I offer you something to eat?" she asked nervously.

He forced a small smile trying to calm her. "Of course, thank you."

She dressed the small table under the window and set out the contents of the trolley. Once she was done she bowed and left causing him to smile wistfully. The food smelled wonderful. It brought back memories of his earlier travels when such meals were few and far between. Eventually he slid over and ate as he watched the scenery pass. The train made one stop between Resembool and Central but Ed could already see the newly built skyscrapers looming over the old military complexes. Humans never did change; they were always off waging one war or another.

Arriving in Central he retrieved his suite case and caught a cab to the docks and the old warehouse district. Most of the boat traffic was moved to the west where many of the new businesses were leaving the area mostly abandoned. He had made his home in what was once known as Warehouse B (and thus confused for the infamous Warehouse 13). The apartment was modern and for the most part Spartan save a few family photographs. Taking off his suite coat he picked up the last picture of the whole family together.

_And how can I make amends for all that I took from you?  
I led you with hopeless dreams  
My brother, I was a fool _

It was the only time he could understand his father's own struggle the desire to die but the inability to die. He ran his fingers over his mother's face. Her smile caused an ache in his heart, a longing for the innocence he'd lost and for the love and happiness he'd thrown away. He sat the picture down and poured himself a drink. The alcohol stung but didn't inebriate him. I anger he threw the bottle across the room. This was his punishment for his selfish crimes against whatever God there was and his blasphemy against Him. He would live forever in pain knowing full well every one he'd harmed and how everyone he loved was dead. Sobs wracked through him as he collapsed.

Al looked down the road after his elder brother. The innocent brother watched with sad eyes as the other disappeared down the road. The sound of crunching snow beside him filled the empty air as Ed vanished from sight completely. The cold wind numbed Al's cheeks but did him no real harm besides freezing his tears. Once again his brother was gone. Al could have run after him and Ed still would have found a way to disappear. It just took too much now.

"Uncle Al? Was that him?" A young female voice asked.

"No, no it was just a ghost. Go back inside, Nina." Al said with a gentle smile.

She nodded and walked off, back into the faded yellow farm house. The smile warmed a little. Nina was the spitting image of her great grandmother, Winry, and was just as sharp. If only Ed could see her. Retracing his brother's steps to their old home he found the blood red rose on the front stoop. He took a long whiff of the rose's perfume and could sense Ed's unshed tears as Ed had placed the flower there. He twirled the flower gently knowing why his brother had left it there.

_Don't cry for the past now, brother mine_

Standing as his brother had he walked down the road following what remained of Ed's tracks. He past the farm house where Nina watched from a window. The wind sounded hollow in his ears as he walked. For a moment he stood on a hill overlooking the town of Resembool, not as frozen in time as it claimed to be, but still so much like it had been when he'd been young. New technology had been brought in to do parts of the work and there were newer cars on the streets but it remained, for the most part, a farming town.

He walked down the hill and then began to run when he saw someone leave the cemetery. Stopping, a part of him longed to run after Ed but again he knew it would do no good. He growled in frustration. "EDWARD!" He yelled and the figure stopped. Hope swelled in him for a moment but then the figure began to move again. Shoulders sagging, Al walked the rest of the way into the cemetery knowing exactly who his brother had come there to see. Despite his care the stone was so worn that the worlds were almost gone. He could still remember the early days when they came here together often. When Ed first told him what they were going to do. The path that had led them both to where they both now stood had begun here. A glint in the low light caught his eye and broke him from his reverie. He picked it up and brushed the snow away, the Amestrian lion grinning up at him.

"Oh, Ed," he cried.

_Neither you nor I are free from blame_

_Nothing can erase the things we did,_

_For the path we took was the same_

He placed the rose and the pocket watch on top of the grave stone feeling that Edward would want them to remain there with her. He paused once more thinking of his childhood, the good times and the bad. Their mother's smile always seemed to represent it all to him. There was an aching emptiness inside him where his heart should have been at the few memories of his mother he had. Sometimes he wondered if he and Edward were still human or if they'd become something else. What would their mother say to all this, their current situations and the past?

_Beautiful Mother,_

_Soft and sweet, once you were gone_

_We were not complete_

_Back through the years _

_We reached for you_

_Alas t'was not meant to be_

The winds whipped harder as he walked back toward the Rockbell house. The door was thrown open before he made it to the front porch and a black dog came running out. Nina's blue eyes watched him with worry from the threshold. Thankfully she didn't press him to tell her anything; instead she called the dog in and closed the door behind them. Al peeled off his coat and hung it near the door. His eyes wondered to the board that had old papers and papers pinned to it. There was a place left ceremonially open for a long lost picture that Ed had taken with him when he left.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Nina asked.

He smiled at her. "I think it's about time I go back to Central to see some old friends."

She frowned but didn't say anything else. He went upstairs to pack and she remained downstairs. Three generations of Rockbells had called him Uncle and he wondered if it was more than a word. Nina's father looked so much like Ed even though his mother looked like Winry like Nina did. They all kept the name Rockbell in one way or another and worked in the family business. Currently Nina's father was in Central working in the practice they had there and her mother was in town doing a checkup, meaning that as always, Al was left with Nina.

"How many times will you go chasing after him?" Lynn, Nina's mother, asked. "Nicholas said you did the same thing when he was Nina's age and you returned in pain. You'll never find him if he doesn't want to be found."

"I learned that a long time ago. That's not why I'm going. For years, Ed fought tooth and nail for me; he put his life on the line constantly. He at least deserves for someone to try and do the same for him. Don't you think?"

She smiled and squeezed his hand. "Then good luck, Alphonse."

Lynn offered to drive him to the station but he insisted on walking. It brought him back to the past when he walked through the older parts of town, no one remained who remembered the name Elric, except those few in the military who guarded the secret of the stone. He looked down at his hand. The red stone shown lightly like it knew he was thinking about it. Edward had given it to him when they'd retrieved their bodies saying that it was his to keep. They had spent years looking for the damned thing and now it was theirs to keep secret and away from the rest of the world. Sometimes Al wished that they'd never opened that door, to go back and try and find some happiness in their grief over their mother.

With one last look at the empty hill he boarded the train.

_My dreams made me blind and mute_

_I longed to return to that time_

_I followed without a word_

_My brother, the fault is mine_

Once Al arrived in the city it still felt like they were in two different worlds. He went to do as he had told Nina, visit some old friends. The neat rows of perfect white stones felt crowded with old souls. Apart of him wondered how many times Edward visited the cemetery. So many of the people buried thee had died because of the two of them. He touched one the stones and then another remembering the names and the people who lay beneath them. Finally he found himself at the memorial for the Furhers in the center of the grounds. He found himself staring a sepia photograph of Mustang from just after he was promoted.

"Long time no see Mustang." He said. "We never did thank you for all you did, did we?"

He lingered a few moments before hitting the streets. Maybe he wouldn't find Ed for another hundred years but that didn't mean he wouldn't try. Little did he know that he and Ed were wondering the same streets just miles away from the other. Both worried for the other and the eternal life they both shared. They were both doomed to loneliness in their own ways. One fought to bring his brother back and to live their lives together and the other fought to keep his brother away and to keep him from the darkness within. At night the both looked up at the few stars they could see through the haze above the city.

_So, where do we go from here?_

_And how to forget and forgive?_

_What's gone is forever lost_

_Now, all we can do is live_

**End**

_**Please review. I may consider making this a full story, depending on the response to this and to what time I have. **_


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